(835) John Marquis of Lorn, afterwards fifth Duke of Argyle; a lieutenant-general in the army:  he was brother of (General Conway’s lady.-C.

(836) An allusion to Mr. Pitt.-C.

(837) Sir Charles Bunbury, secretary of embassy at Paris, was nominated secretary to Lord Weymouth, and held that office for about two months.-E.

(838) The straitened circumstances of Lord Weymouth made his nomination very unpopular in Ireland:  he never went over.-C.

(839) In the recent arrangement, Lady Betty’s husband was, as we have seen, dismissed from, and Lady Dalkeith’s (Charles Townshend) acceded to, office.-C.

(840) This was a mistake.-E.

(841) This is the last of the series of letters written by Walpole to Lord Hertford:  to the publication is subjoined the following postscript:-"The state of the administration, as described in the foregoing letters, could evidently not last; and after the failure of several attempts to induce Mr. Pitt to take the government on terms which the King could grant, the Duke of Cumberland, at his Majesty’s desire, succeeded in forming the Rockingham administration, in which General Conway was secretary of state and leader of the House of Commons, and Lord Hertford, lord lieutenant of Ireland.  There can be little doubt, that during these transactions, Mr. Walpole (although he had in the interval a severe fit Of the gout) wrote to Lord Hertford, but no other letter of this series has been discovered; which is the more to be regretted, as the state of parties was it that moment particularly interesting.  The refusal of Mr. Pitt raised the ministers to a pitch of confidence, (perhaps@, we might say, -arrogance,) which, as Mr. Walpole foresaw, accelerated their fall.  So blind were they to their true situation, that Mr. Rigby, who was as deep as any man in the ministerial councils, writes to a private friend “I never thought, to tell you the truth, that we were in any danger from this last political cloud.  The Duke of Cumberland’s political system, grafted upon the Earl of Bute’s stock, seems, of all others, the least capable of succeeding.’  This letter was written on the 7th of July, and on the 10th the new ministry was formed."-C.

Letter 253 To George Montagu, Esq.  Strawberry Hill, May 26, 1765. (page 405)

If one of the one hundred events, and one hundredth part of the one hundred thousand reports that have passed, and been spread in this last month, have reached your solitary hill, you must be surprised at not a single word from me during that period.  The number of events is my excuse.  Though mine is the pen of a pretty ready writer, I could not keep pace with the revolution of each day, each hour.  I had not time to begin the narrative, much less to finish it:  no, I Must keep the whole to tell you at once, or to read it to you, for I think I shall write the history, which, let me tell you, Buckinger himself could not have crowded into a nutshell.